Transcriber: Van Nguyen Reviewer: Riaki Poništ
Before I start, including microphone test,
technology is good.
(Laughter)
Yesterday, we had a rehearsal.
It went perfect.
Wearing my favorite shirt, then I drank coffee.
Guess what?
I spilled the coffee on my shirt.
(Laughter)
What do you think I did next?
A. I give my shirt to my assistant,
then he can go down to the river, stand in the very cold water
and repeatedly beat the shirt again and again and again
Or,
did I use a piece of technology
specifically designed for one purpose:
washing machine?
Of course, I used a washing machine!
And my assistant was very happy.
(Laughter)
Now, we don't think of the washing machine as "innovative technology."
We don't say, "Oh, the washing machine!
Taking jobs away from all the people
who chose as their career to go down to the river
to beat the shirts against rocks!"
Who wants to do that? No one.
Professor Cardia says,
the washing machine had a gigantic effect
on women's lives around the world.
It freed up time for women to enter the workforce.
Turns out, washing machines are feminist.
(Laughter)
Freedom comes when you can automate.
Now, what is automation?
How is it different from AI?
One way to look at it is,
AI mimics human's brain, analysis and judgement.
Automation focuses on streamlining processes.
Then there is RPA, Robotic Process Automation.
It's a new automation.
Software acts like a human to streamline processes.
AI is "thinking" and RPA is "doing".
Combine those two, and you can make what we call digital robots.
Why is automation with digital robots important for everyone?
Firstly, working population is declining in Japan.
But more importantly, there is a mismatch of talent.
In Japan, by the year 2030,
there will be a surplus of 1.2 million clerical workers
and a shortage of 1.7 million skilled professionals.
We have so many separate systems that humans have to interface
between them.
It's tedious, complicated, frustrating, manual work,
but looks like machine work.
I believe everyone should have a digital robot
so we can transform society at all levels.
Digital robots enable people
to be less like machines and to be more human.
We can do more idea work, creative work, social work
by freeing up our time.
You don't even need programming skills.
All you really need is empathy.
As CEO of a company
working with AI, RPA and digital robots,
I am often asked, "What's the future of robots?"
Is it like Rosie from "The Jetsons"?
No, not your servant.
Is it like the Terminator?
[No,] not your enemies.
The future of robot is like Doraemon.
This is a Japanese anime character.
Doraemon is your friend.
If you are very clear on what you want him to do
and give him a dorayaki, Japanese pancake,
he's going to help you out.
He will be your reliable friend.
If you work closely, giving him the right description,
he's going to bring new inventions from his pocket.
Those inventions are like AI,
like translation software in your computer.
It's Doraemon's honyaku konyaku, translation jelly.
Eat it, and the language barrier is gone.
So, I ate it 20 minutes ago,
so I can speak English with a Japanese accent.
(Laughter)
The only difference between Doraemon and digital robot is,
a digital robot is invisible software;
Doraemon has a body.
Now, let me talk about some of the potential of digital robots.
In July, we had an RPA & AI workshop
for school students.
They played around with digital robots.
Two of the students said,
"Wow! We have to use robots to help our teacher,
our favorite teacher!"
I'm curious - how?
"Our teacher is miserable.
She has to go to the office very early in the morning,
stays very late to prepare our grade quizzes."
A teacher's influence affects the future.
Imagine, teachers don't have to stay up all night
to prepare, to score tests.
Teachers could focus on individual students that need their attention.
Attention to the people is so important.
Mr. Yamada, he works as a financial consultant for a prestigious bank.
Oh, by the way, the photo isn't of Mr. Yamada.
(Laughter)
In any case, he used to wake up at five every morning,
rush to the office, get the overnight financial update,
prepare, reconcile,
then after all the work, he drinks coffee,
spill it on his shirt,
but he has no assistant to go down to the river.
(Laughter)
Now, Mr. Yamada and his colleagues
created a robot.
Streamlining all of his processes
while he sleeps.
Every night, hundreds of robots
work for Mr. Yamada and 3,000 financial consultants.
Read the consultant's calendar, identify the customer meeting schedule,
prepare the customer's latest financial information,
make recommendations, send an email.
What do you think?
Did 3,000 financial consultants
lose their jobs to digital robots?
No, they have more time, focus and attention
to create relationships.
Customers are very happy, and so is Mr. Yamada.
2018 was a disaster-filled year for West Japan.
Landslides, typhoons, heavy rains.
In case of heavy rain, 18,000 houses were affected.
In those situations, insurance companies want to go in as soon as possible
and assess the damage and make payments to the families in need.
We provided digital robots,
saved 38,000 work hours
of processing manual paperwork.
Within two days, the victims of disaster had their payout.
While digital robots were working on the forms,
insurance employees were caring for the people suffering.
This comes from our belief system.
When we are handcuffed by manual work, we lose our capacity to be human.
By automating work, empathy emerges.
Working in a field like automation, we tend to get lost in the technology.
I believe
digital transformation has to be human-based.
In this case, digital robots are only a tool.
Innovation is not only coming from genius programmers in Silicon Valley.
The key is you.
Making robots with empathy.
Bringing innovation from the ground,
small improvements, simple improvements,
amplified by the technology like digital robots.
That leads to innovation.
We say, "Genba ni kami yadoru,"
in Japanese.
The best ideas come from the front line.
Earlier,
I talked about the future of mismatch in Japan in 2030.
If we taught people
to use empathy to build robots,
how could that change the future of Japan and the world?
Thank you.
(Applause)